Psychologiegeschichte

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (1832-1920) founded the worlds first Institute for Experimental Psychology in Leipzig in 1879. People from all over the world came to hear Wundt’s lectures (which started in Leipzig 1875) and workshops and to observe research executed in the laboratory. Leipzig had become a Mecca for modern psychology. In 1917, Wundt abdicated from his professorship and he had written 184 expert reports for doctoral candidates. At least 60 candidates had been from foreign countries and 18 from the United States. Fechner’s psychophysics and measurements of reaction times had been prominent in experimental studies in Wundt's lab (the main focus of 85 dissertations). Many of the student and scientists who assisted in Wundt’s research became famous scientists on their own, such as James McKeen Cattell (1860-1944), Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926), G. Stanley Hall (1844-1924), Friedrich Kiesow (1858-1940), August Kirschmann (1860-1932), James Mark Baldwin (1861-1934), Oswald Külpe (1862-1915), Ernst Meumann (1862-1915), Charles Spearman (1863-1945), Hugo Münsterberg (1863-1916), Edward B. Titchener (1867-1927), John M. McEachran (1878-1971), Wilhelm Wirth (1876-1952), Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940). We compiled two CDs, one devoted to his work (e.g., books, experimental devices), the other to his letters (e,g, Fechner, Stratton).

This CD contains many original texts (books including tables and figures, papers, letters) from Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (1832-1920) . The book “Grundzüge der Psychologie” is included in English as well “Outlines of Psychology” (translated by Charles Hubbard Judd and Wilhelm Wundt in 1907). It also contains selected books being important for the foundation of Experimental Psychology from E. H. Weber, G. Th. Fechner, R. H. Lotze, H. v. Helmholtz, E. Mach and H. Ebbinghaus, and the complete doctoral theses from M. Friedrich, J. McKeen Cattell, and Ch. Spearman. We scanned those old documents and converted them to real text enabling search within and across the documents.
Furthermore, descriptions of many experimental devices used at those times including photos/illustrations of the apparatus and various other stuff such as plenty of pictures of the early experimental psychologists are included. Moreover, the CD also contains parts of the doctoral thesis by David K. Robinson about Wundt (written in English).
Although the electronic version of the texts (including 30 complete books) were carefully proofread, not all typos could be avoided. Please note that this CD is the result of hard work of many people, most of all Maximilian Wontorra and Dr. Anneros Meischner-Metge, but also H.-J. Drogott, K. Drews, G. Flau, R. Glinka, R. Jentsch, W. Zumpe and various coworkers of the Institute for General Psychology of the University of Leipzig. This CD also profited from the help of Prof. Dr. H. Gundlach, Prof. Dr. H.-J. Lander, Prof. Dr. D. K. Robinson, and Prof. Dr. W. Woodward. Please, refer to it as Wontorra, M., Meischner-Metge, A., & Schröger, E. (Eds.). (2004). Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) und die Anfänge der Experimentellen Psychologie [Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) and the rise of Experimental Psychology]. (CD [ISBN 3-00-013477-8]).